Nicholas Craig (Nigel Planer) - I, An Actor (1989) - Nicholas Craig (Nigel Planer) - I, An Actor (1989) - Forum

#1 · 29/04/2021, 7:50 am

Hello,

Firstly, let me say how great this site is. I have found a lot of rare comedy here that has eluded me for years, so thank you very much for that.

A humble request...

I have been trying to track down recordings of the original BBC radio production of "I, An Actor" - the brilliant spoof memoirs of thespian Nicholas Craig, as embodied by Nigel Planer.

The book was adapted for radio in 1989 by Planer and Christopher Douglas, and also featured appearances from Christopher Ryan (Mike from the Young Ones) and Chrissy Roberts.

I haven't been able to find it anywhere - and the only reference to it lies within the BBC Genome site - which indexes the contents of the Radio Times.

If anybody has old off-the-air recordings of this, I would love to hear them. Apparently Planer himself may still have some tapes (I asked him on Twitter), and has been digitising some of his older work recently, but he hasn't posted anything as yet.

By the way, there is a new Nicholas Craig project in the works from Douglas and Planer coming soon!

Thanks!

#2 · 30/04/2021, 6:11 pm

leave it with me will see what i can find.

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

#3 · 17/06/2021, 8:57 am

The only place I can find this (at least I think it's this) is in the British Library!

It seems to be on 2 CDs

I have no idea how to go about trying to obtain a loan or arrange a listen of it though.

(I'm located in Australia, which will probably not help, although I am a British Citizen.)

#4 · 04/12/2021, 10:16 pm

Still trying to track this down, can anybody help? I've been tweeting the controller and commissioning editor of Radio4 & 4Extra lobbying for a repeat, but no luck so far. Nigel Planer has been retweeting me though 🙂

Here's a Radio Times article from 1989, from just before the book was serialised on Radio 4.

There's also a brand new Nicholas Craig podcast about to come out.

https://shows.acast.com/nicholascraig

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/apr/06/the-return-of-mock-thespian-nicholas-craig-nigel-planer-christopher-douglas-i-an-actor

#5 · 05/12/2021, 10:39 pm

I asked one of my fellow collectors. Who normally has everything to no avail I'm afraid. Sorry @darkpenguin I did try. Looks like it is very rare. Even for me. 🙂

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

#6 · 12/07/2022, 8:38 am

Good news on this one! I've been chatting to Mr Planer himself, and he has located his own tapes of the series. They are currently being digitized, and should surface pretty soon - most likely on his YouTube channel. Three hours of Nicholas Craig, unheard since 1989!

Scrubbermiser has reacted to this post.

#7 · 12/07/2022, 9:02 pm

Result!

#8 · 14/08/2023, 2:59 pm

Does anyone have this?

#9 · 15/08/2023, 2:52 am

Still working on it. The first 6 episodes got digitised and put up on Nigel Planer's Patreon account here:

https://www.patreon.com/NigelPlaner

However the sound quality is appalling, and the other 6 episodes are still missing. I've volunteered to re-digitise the ones that have been found, but the cassettes have been mislaid again unfortunately.

I will update here once I make some further progress.

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#10 · 21/01/2024, 7:12 am

Quote from darkpenguin on 15/08/2023, 2:52 am

Still working on it. The first 6 episodes got digitised and put up on Nigel Planer's Patreon account here:

https://www.patreon.com/NigelPlaner

However the sound quality is appalling, and the other 6 episodes are still missing. I've volunteered to re-digitise the ones that have been found, but the cassettes have been mislaid again unfortunately.

I will update here once I make some further progress.

Were there 12 episodes? There are 12 broadcasts on Genome but I can't tell if it's just a repeat